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EXCURSION TO ANTIETAM 



Dedication of Honuments 



OF THE ... 



8th, Nth, 14th and 16th 



IRcGlments of Connecticut Tllolunteers. 



oSX*^ /^U^-to:^ 



OCTOBER. 189-4. 



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By special invitation of members of the Fourteentli Regiment, 
the editor accompanied the party with cameras to study the battle- 
fields and prepare illustrated lectures upon them. Bein? requested 
by Colonel J. C. Broatch and General J. B. Clapp to prepare a 
souvenir of the dedications, and finding this desire to be general 
among the Committee of Arrangements and veterans participating, 
the work was undertaken, and the result is here presented. Every 
possible assistance and courtesy has been afforded by the chairman, 
orators, chaplains, secretaries and members of committees of the 
various regimental organizations. The publishers of the Hartford 
Courant generously offered the use of the engravings used in their 
account of the dedication, but it seemed best to use a finer grade 
than can be done in newspaper work. 

Acknowledgement of courtesies is also due to our printer, Mr. 
E. E. Darrow, of New London, and his foreman, JVIr. Charles H. 
Abbott, the Suffolk Engravm^g»Co., of Boston. The publishers of 
the Palmer Journal, Mass., kindly loaned the cut of Harlow Chapin, 
which we use. * . • 

A few of the other cuts have been loaned by their owners, but 
the larger part have been specially made for this book. In mak- 
ing the Souvenir cover all that seemed desirable it has been neces- 
sary to increase its size over one-halfmore than was promised in 
the prospectus, and to more than double the cost first intended. The 
advance orders amounting to over three hundred copies, it was 
thought that an edition of five hundred would be needed, and that 
number has been issued. As this edition will, undoubtedly, be soon 
exhausted, all who wish copies should order promptly. 

The price is fifty cents per copy. 

WALTER J. YATES, 

New London, Conn. 
December 25, 1894. 



lErection of the flDonumente^ 

At the business meeting of the Sixteenth Regiment, held at 
Hagerstown, Md., September i6th, 1889, General J. B. Clapp, pre- 
sented a resolution asking for a committee of five to take action 
for the erection of a monument to the regiment on Antietam battle- 
field. The executive committee, consisting of Col. F. W. Cheney, 
General John B. Clapp, Captain T. B. Robinson, Lieutenant A. G. 
Case, Corporal W. G. Hooker, and Colonel B. F. Blakeslee, was 
given power to make inquiries concerning location, price of land, 
plan and manner of subscription, and legislative aid. 

At the reunion held in Bristol, Ct., September 17th, 189 1, Col- 
onel F. W. Cheney reported that he had purchased a lot of land, 
ten acres in extent, at Sharpsburg, Md., embracing the position 
held by the regiment at Antietam battle, September 17th, 1862. He 
formally presented a deed of this lot to the Sixteenth C. V. Associ- 
ation. On this lot the monument was afterward erected. 

In September, 189 1, the Fourteenth Regiment made an excur- 
sion to Antietam, and held a reunion on the battlefield. Much of 
the credit for planning and carrying out successfully this trip is due 
Colonel J. C. Broatch. The story of the affair and history of the 
regiment is admirably told by Chaplain H. S. Stevens, in his souve- 
nir book. At that time the desirability of erecting a monument to 
the regiment at this place suggested itself to Mr. Broatch. But no 
action was taken till the Department Encampment of the G. A. R., 
at Willimantic, February 15th and i6th, 1893. At that time a reso- 
lution was drafted which he, as Chairman of the Committee on Res- 
olutions, presented, to memorialize the General Assembly, then in 
session, to make an appropriation for the erection of monuments to 
Connecticut troops on the battlefields where they fought. The res- 
olution was adopted and a committee appointed to present it to the 



Legislature. In response to this petition, the Legislature passed a 
joint resolution, approved June 14th, 1893, providing "That when- 
ever any regimental or battery association of Connecticut volun- 
teers that served in the War of the Rebellion, has, or hereafter 
shall, at a meeting duly held, designate by vote, a place upon or ad- 
jacent, to some battlefield upon which such regiment or battery 
fought, or in some national cemetery, for the erection of a monu- 
ment or other memorial, and shall present a copy of such vote 
to the Quartermaster-General, the Quartermaster-General is au- 
thorized to cause to be constructed and erected, such monument 
or other memorial of such design as shall be approved by him, and 
by such regimental or battery association, or any committee thereof 
appointed for that purpose, at an expense to the State not exceed- 
ing one thousand dollars, etc., etc." 

The United States Congress also appointed a Board, known as 
the "Antietam Board," to have charge of the battlefield. Major 
Davis, U. S. A., and General Heth, of the Confederate army, are its 
present members. A plot of land 20 feet square, near "Bloody 
Lane," was purchased and deeded to the Fourteenth Regiment, 
January 16, 1894, from Resin D. Fisher and his wife, Emma J. 
Fisher. The total cost of this, with expenses of record and sur- 
veying, amounting to $175, was contributed by Captain A. Park 
Hammond, of Rockville, Conn. On this lot their monument is 

placed. 

The ground on which to erect a monument for the Eighth was 
purchased by Colonel John S. Lane, and presented to that regiment 

by him. 

The Eleventh Regiment long had a Standing Committee on 
Monument, but purchased no site. As it was desired to group the 
Eighth, Eleventh and Sixteenth's monuments near each other, the 
offer was accepted to locate on the lot purchased by Colonel Cheney. 

In accordance with the resolution of the General Assembly the 



Eighth, Eleventh, Fourteenth and Sixteenth Regiments took action 
and appointed committees with full power to have the monuments 
erected at Antietam. By invitation of Colonel J. C. Broatch and 
General J. B. Clapp, these committees met together and decided to 
co-operate in the work. Mr. Clapp was made Chairman, and Mr. 
Broatch, Secretary. A circular was issued asking for designs from 
various firms with estimates of cost. After careful consideration the 
contract for the monuments of the Eighth and Eleventh was award- 
ed to Stephen Maslen, Hartford. Those of the Fourteenth and 
Sixteenth to Smith Granite Company, Westerly, R. I. 

It was decided to have a joint excursion for the dedication, to 
start Monday, October 8, 1894. The literary programme was placed 
in charge of Colonel J. W. Knowlton to arrange. The Baltimore 
& Ohio Railroad offered special rates and accommodations, which 
were accepted. The management of all details was entrusted to 
Mr. Broatch, who issued the circulars and made all necessary ar- 
rangements. The preparation of the itinerary, booking of excur- 
sionists at hotels in Gettysburg and iri families at Sharpsburg, was 
placed in the hands of Chaplain H. S. Stevens, who was untiring in 
his efforts to provide for the comfort and convenience-of the party. 
The regimental committees were as follows : 

Eighth Regiment — John S. Lane, Henry R. Jones, Isaac Will- 
iams, Harlow Chapin, Frederick Gallup. 

Eleventh Regiment — P. W. Ambler, H. A. Eastman, W. W. 
Fuller, G. M. Southmayd, S. Deforest. 

Fourteenth Regiment — John C. Broatch, J. W. Knowlton, A. 
P. Hammond, W. H. Tubbs, H. S. Stevens. 

Sixteenth Regiment — J. B. Clapp, A. G. Case, George Q. 
Whitney, N,. L. Hope, W. H. Lockwood. 



Zbc JExcureion, 

{preparation. 

On the 26th of July the General Committee of the four regi- 
ments issued a circular announcing the progress of the work on the 
monuments and the arrangements made for an excursion to dedi- 
cate them. The date set for starting from Jersey City was Mon- 
day, October 8th, at i o'clock p. m. The route over the Baltimore 
& Ohio Railroad was selected via Allentown, Reading, Harrisburg, 
Gettysburg, Pen Mar, Hagerstown to Sharpsburg, thence to Har- 
per's Ferry, Washington, and return via Baltimore and Philadel- 
phia. Tickets good for ten days were placed at $8.50 for the ex- 
cursion. Hotel charges at $1.50 to $2.00 per day at Gettysburg, 
Sharpsburg and Washington. The number of tickets was limited 
to 400, or 100 for each regiment. A special train of the " Royal 
Blue Line" was engaged to be personally conduced by P. W. 
Heroy, Esq., of New York, Passenger Agent of the B. & O. R. R. 
The booking of the excursionists was in charge of Harlow Chapin, 
Eighth Regiment, C. Quien, Eleventh Regiment, J. C. Broach, 
Fourteenth Regiment, J. B. Clapp, vSixteenth Regiment. Enter- 
tainment at Gettysburg, Sharpsburg and Washington was in charge 
of Chaplain H. S. Stevens, of Washington, D. C. He made two 
trips in advance over the route, and by personal canvas of hotels in 
Gettysburg and Washington, and by a house to house visitation at 
Sharpsburg, with a correspondence of several hundred letters, se- 
cured the best possible accommodations at the most reasonable 
rates. His previous experience in arranging the excursion of the 
Fourteenth Regiment in 1891 made him able to do that, which prob- 
ably no other person could have done so well. His efforts were 
fully appreciated by all the comrades and their guests participating 
in the excursion, and by the people who entertained them. 

October ist, the itinerary and general programme, with other 



8 

information regarding transportation and hotels, was mailed by 
him to all who had been booked. 

Consummation. 

October 8th saw the veterans, with wives, daughters and 
friends, gathering in Jersey City at the N. J. Central R. R. station. 
After a hearty dinner in the station, specially provided by Charles F. 
Beck, places were selected in the train which, for the most part, 
were retained during the entire trip. At 1.20 p. m. the journey be- 
gan. A delightful run through the varied and picturesque scenery 
of the route brought the party to Gettysburg, between 8 and 9 
o'clock in the evening, with good appetites, and just enough fatigue 
to make supper and a good night's sleep welcome. Thursday was 
occupied in viewing the battlefield at this place. In carriages, 
barges and on foot, accompanied by local guides and lecturers, the 
morning hours were devoted to the localities covered by the first 
day's battle. The afternoon was spent upon the field of the second 
and third days' fighting. Night brought a tempest of rain and wind, 
but by 9 o'clock next morning the sun appeared and the precious 
hours were improved by visits to many spots of interest only briefly 
seen the previous day. 

At I o'clock all are in place on the train and the delightful 
mountain route to Pen Mar is soon passed over. A half hour at 
this famous resort was well spent in viewing the extended landscape 
and tracing through the wide expanse of the beautiful Cumberland 
Valley as it lay in autumnal glory, the path over which Lee's army 
marched in its advance and retreat. 

On to Hagerstown and Antietam. At 5 o'clock the latter station 
is reached, and soon in the quaint, quiet little village of Sharpsburg, 
all are comfortably quartered. The same houses, and many of the 
same people are here as hosts to-night who, thirty-two years ago 
kept open house, at first for the men in gray, and then for the men 
in blue. But under what changed circumstances we gather now ! 



Every house is open, and all strive to dispense generous hospitality. 
The churches have arranged festivals and the attendance of the ex- 
cursionists is fruitful in forming pleasant acquaintance, passing an 
agreeable evening and aiding the finances of the local societies. 

2)eDication. 

On the morning of the nth, many are early astir, taking a stroll 
over the fields, locating the place where they bivouaced, or 
charged, or lay through long hours of danger, when these hillsides 
were ploughed by cannon-shot and sown with musket-balls. Some 
find the place where, wounded, they lay through the whole day and 
night of the bloody strife. Some find bullets and other grim re- 
minders of the past. 

At lo o'clock all the party, with many from the village, gather 
near - Bloody Lane," for the dedication of the Fourteenth Regi- 
ment Monument. A substantial platform had been erected near 
the obelisk for the use of the speakers and singers. This was so 
constructed as to be quickly taken down and put up again, and was 
used for the exercises at each of the monuments. A double male 
quartette of veterans had been organized on the train, and the 
songs rendered by them made one of the most pleasing features of 
the celebration. The names of those composing this choir are : 

F W. White, leader, Seventh C. V. ; S. J. Nettleton, Eighth ; 
Frederick Gallup, Eighth; Charles Jackson, Eghth ; George D. 
Reith, Sixteenth ; Charles F. Bowen, Sixteenth ; John E. Case, Six- 
teenth ; T. T. Wilsdon, Sixthteenth ; Oscar P. Keith, Third R. I. 
Cavalry ; DeW. C. Pond, Stephen Maslen. 

The' selections sung are given in the programme of each dedi- 
cation. The "Flag of Freedom" was composed by the leader for 

this occasion. 

Badges of the excursion, of tasteful designs m silk, and also of 
the dedication of each monument, decorated all] breasts, and will 



lO 



long remain among the cherished mementoes of this memorable day. 

Books of patriotic songs selected for this occasion were dis- 
tributed, and on battlefield, in hotel, and on the train were in fre- 
quent use. 

After the dedication of each monument the photograph of it, 
and in most instances the survivors of the regiment present and 
grouped about it, was taken. W. H. Tipton, Esq., the noted battle- 
field photographer of Gettysburg, was present, and not only made 
views of the monuments but also took a number of the most im- 
portant views of various localities on the battlefield. The cuts of 
the Fourteenth and Sixteenth's monuments used in this book were 
made from his views. Those of the Eighth and Eleventh are from 
negatives taken by the publisher of this Souvenir, who was present 
with camera as special press correspondent. 

The monument of the Sixteenth was draped with the United 
States flag, and at the appropriate moment was unveiled by Mrs. 
Colonel F. W. Cheney. 

That of the Eighth was also veiled, and the ceremony of un- 
covering was performed by Mrs. Lieutenant J. S. Lane. 

The monuments of the Eighth, Eleventh and Sixteenth regi- 
ments are over a mile distant from, and on an entirely different part 
of the field from that of the Fourteenth, but are not far from each 
other. These three regiments were brigaded together in Burn- 
side's corps. That of the Eighth is farthest in advance on the crest 
of the hill. Each one marks the most advanced position held by 
the regiment. Those of the Sixteenth and Eleventh are near to- 
gether in the ten acre lot purchased by Colonel F. W. Cheney for 
the purpose, and which will probably be conveyed to the Antietam 
National Cetnetery Association as soon as its organization is com- 
pleted and Congress makes the appropriations necessary to com- 
plete the work of the society. 

As the most active service of the Eleventh was near Burnside 



II 

Bridge, the regiment naturally desires to have a memorial near that 
place, as well as the monument already erected. A movement to 
provide such has been started, and a fund is being raised. 

Campsfire. 

No re-union would be complete if this feature was omitted. In 
the evening, the Reformed Church, which had been offered for 
the service, was completely filled. Colonel J. W. Knowlton, of the 
Fourteenth, made an admirable presiding officer. Chaplain Dixon 
offered prayer. Short speeches were made by Captain H. R. Jones, 
Chaplain H. S. Stevens, Hon. Charles Lyman and Rev. P. V. Finch. 
Recitations by L. B. Everts, James M. Bacon and Norman L, Hope, 
with patriotic songs, made a programme of interest to all. 

©mvarD. 

Friday morning was spent as each one pleased. Some visited 
the various points of interest, Burnside Bridge, the sites of the 
monuments. National Cemetery, with its colossal granite statue of 
a soldier in the position "at rest" guarding the bivouac of nearly 
five thousand Union soldiers who lie sleeping here awaiting the 
reveille call of the resurrection angel. Some took another look at 
Dunker Church, West and East Woods, " Bloody Lane," Roulette 
House and Mumma buildings ; Chaplain Stevens piloted a party 
over the route followed by the Fourteenth Regiment as it came into 
battle. From the Roulette House to East Woods, thence to the 
Antietam Creek, and then through Readysville by the back way, and 
out on the Boonesborough road and Hagerstown pike, they rode to 
Turner's Gap, at the top of South Mountain, Retracing the route, 
all the battlefield was spread out as a map. The course of "Bloody 
Lane " was followed on foot to the positions held in the battle by 
the regiment, thus giving clearer ideas of the relations of their 
various positions to each other and to the whole field than in any 
other way possible to obtain. 



12 



At one o'clock P. M. adieus are said to kindly hosts of Sharps- 
burg, and from Antietam station our train bears us along the route 
of the retreat of General Lee and his army. In a few minutes we 
cross the Potomac River, and see the place where they forded. 
Along the south bank of the river we speed toward Harper's Ferry. 
Here a halt of an hour gives opportunity to visit the town, climb the 
steep hillsides where the rock is often cut into steps in place of 
streets, out on the cliffs by Lafayette Rock, overlooking the Shen- 
andoah River, and far up its beautiful valley. Opposite rise the 
precipitous sides of London Heights. Across the Potomac are the 
equally picturesque hills of Maryland Heights, while in the angle 
made by the junction of the two rivers stands the town, and a mile 
back of it Bolivar Heights. All these hillsides were fortified, and 
their echoes were often awakened in the days of war by the voice of 
the bugle and the thunder of cannon. Crossing to the north bank of 
the now greater Potomac the time is brief till we catch a glimpse of 
that mightiest of obelisks and noblest of domes, which mark the 
capital city of the nation. At five o'clock we are in Washington, 
and the party, without formality, breaks ranks, and singly or in 
squads, quarters are found at hotels or in private homes. 

"Ibomcwar^. 

The return home is made according to the convenience of each 
One. Some take the fast train for New York that night. Others 
stay in Washington a few days. Some visit other battlefields at 
Fredericksburg, Petersburg and Richmond. 

With many the desire is strong to return some day in the not 
distant future and more leisurely go over the scenes visited on this 
trip and study the battle story on the ground where its scenes were 
enacted. 




MONUMENT FOURTEENTH CONN- VOLS. 




I 
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< 

O 
QC 
CO 



DEDICATION 



dfourteentb IReoiment nftonument. 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER II, 10, a.m. 



Col. J. W. KNOWLTON, Bridgeport, Conn., 
Presiding. 



IproQuainme^ 

/KbueiC Sharpsburg Band 

iPra^Ct . . . ' Rev. Walter J. Yates 

Docal /IRU6iC — "Flag of Freedom," Male Choir 

BD^ress Col. J. W. Knowlton 

IDOCal /IBusiC — "America," Doxology 

B^Drcss Chaplain H. S. Stevens 

t 

prater. 

Rev. WALTER J. YATES, A. M. 

Under the blue dome of the o'er-arching heavens, Thy temple, 
, with bowed heads and lifted hearts we worship Thee, O God of 
battles. We recognize and acknowledge Thee as creator and pre- 
server of all things visible and invisible. Thou art ruler of nations 
and judge of all men. In former days our fathers crossed the seas 
and sought on these shores a place to worship Thee in liberty of 
conscience and without fear of men. Led by thy hand, protected by 



14 



^ thev laid the foundations of this Republic. 
Thine almighty arm, hey laid ^' . , foes. 

They braved the penis -' ^l^J'^'^^Z^ ^nst in Thee and Thou 
and pursued by tryanny. ^^^^^^^r^^ years of Revolution and 
didst not desert them, through tnea y ^^^^.^^ 

settling of the civil government, in after da so p ^^^^^ 

and nflitary strife Thou didst - f .^ J^^^ "tt. Je when murky 
fields, vvhen embattled osts cosed in ead^^ ^^^^ ^,;^^ ^, ,,,,,, 

victory to the right. brave who gave their 

we dedicate this day memorials of the bra e ^^^^g ^^^ ^^^_ 

l,,es.hat"go^-ernmen o th peop y .^^ '-' "P°" '^'^ 'f"" 
ish from the earth. Let r.> ,j,^^^^ ^j,;, ^^r 

which we rear to patriotism and love^f.be^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ 

guide in all the coming years. t™« ^'^ ^ ,e and pros- 

Lte, from ..rctic snows to ^^y^^;Z n Z^s of legislation 
perity abide. Give wisdom to our P^OP'^ ,he execu- 

?ust and equal la-»^y ^^^^^^ .tforcfd In social and domes- 
live that these may be "f ^-"f ^^^"Jf 1„ .^^iness industry and 

tic circles may purity ""^'^^'^^^^^^bity prevail and fraud 
commercial enterprise may hone^ya^dl-^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^.^^^^^^ 

and avarice be "amshed^ From wa ^^.^^ ^^^ ^,^. 

Great God, defend us. Tea^h us ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ 

dom. Endow us with Thy Holy &P ^j^^^_ „„, 

we may develop strength and -'""^- f "^ J. ihy kingdom 
transgressions, and establish -^^Hf^^'^T^n Heaven." "Till 
come, Thy will be done on ear h as t - J°- ^^ „„, L,,d and 

the kingdoms of '^'-^^^^.f "^.^i So" a"<^ Holy Spirit, wili we 



15 

Col. J. W. KNOWLTON. 

Comrades and Friends^ — On this consecrated field, hallowed by 
the sacrifice of blood and human life, there was enacted the trag- 
edy of war. Thirty-two years ago, opposing factions hereon sub- 
mitted the question of nationality as against the right of secession 
to the arbitrament of the sword. This peaceful field, those billowy 
tracts, heard the clash of arms, felt the tread of near two hundred 
thousand armed men, and the absorbed soil drank the red blood of 
one out of every eight of that vast host. Well may this be called 
a consecrated field with such a baptism from the font of life. With 
reverent hearts we gather here to manifest our gratitude to the 
living actors of that day, and to mingle our tears, with our praises 
of the dead, who, by the sacrifice of their lives, did all men could 
to bring the heritage of peace and unity. 

We are here to mark the spot where the Fourteenth Regiment, 
an undrilled body of one thousand Connecticut soldiers, but three 
weeks from their firesides, met first the foe, and met them bravely. 
To this spot they came against a bitter storm of lead and shell, 
that poured from yonder sunken road, and from the hill beyond, as 
well as from either flank, a lurid storm that mortals could not breast 
and live. Death and wounds were in their midst, but those men 
endured them both until directed to a new position less than three 
hundred feet away. On this new line they settled down to work, as 
though they expected there to stay; and there they did stay for 
three hours, with the whiz of bullets and the crash of shell their 
constant visitants. 

I shall not, in my brief talk, describe in detail the several move- 
ments of the day, but will leave that interesting story to another, 
only quoting from the report of the division commander. General 
French, in which he says : " The conduct of the new regiments 



i6 

must take a prominent place in the history of this great battle. 
Undrilled, but admirably equipped, every regiment, either in ad- 
vance or reserve, distinguished itself, but according to the energy 
and ability of the commanders. There never was such material in 
any army, and in one month these splendid men will not be excelled 
by any." The truth of the General's prophecy is shown in the 
Fourteenth's record of thirty-four battles, from Antietam to Ap- 
pomattox, as inscribed on this noble memorial erected by the State 
of Connecticut to the regiment. 

These tons of granite, wrought in graceful lines, with mar- 
vellous skill, will stand through the varying vicissitudes of storm 
and sunshine, telling the grim story to men of every clime, and, 
methinks, that the warm light of every September moon will awaken 
in this New England stone a soul that will go out and testify to the 
unmarked dead o'er all these fields that a grateful people has not 
forgotten, and never will forget, the sufferings or the valor of those 
who stood by the Union in those days. It will tell them of the 
myriad schools throughout the land, where, daily, the Stars and 
Stripes now float, and teach a noble fealty to the nation, instilling a 
patriotic glow into the youthful mind. It will tell the unknown 
dead, were their forms clad in the blue or in the gray, that loyalty 
will never be forgotten, or disloyalty forgiven. Let us believe that 
to this story answer will come from all the moonlit September air, 
a glad Amen ! So glad, and so full, that through the North, and 
through the South, there will be no doubt that the blood of brothers, 
shed in strife, has become a lasting seal to national unity. 

Comrades, to you who stood here in that past time, and bared 
your breasts in your country's defense, this moment is one of com- 
mendable pride. To the people of our state, you were, and are, an 
honor — in^^testimony of which this shaft stands an enduring em- 
blem — symmetrical, as your manly qualities ; firm as your fidelity 
to your^country^; and its solidity is a fit symbol of your unswerving 



t7 

loyalty. And not alone with you, comrades, lies all the pride of 
this day, for the beaming eyes of your friends here present, tell 
that they, too, are filled with joy that they are with you in this 
grand hour when a visible testimonial to your greatness is dedi- 
cated on this field. These friends have been with you on the great 
battle ground at Gettysburg, where your prowess carved a special 
line on the monument of fame — a line cut in great letters high up 
on the pillar — letters so great, and line so high, tha^ for all time, 
the world will not cease to give you glad acclaim ! So, the two 
fields of honor that they know, Gettysburg and Antietam, fill them 
with wonder that mortals could brave, endure and do so much — but 
could they be led to Fredericksburg, that slaughter place ; to 
Chancellorsville, to Morton's Ford, that spot unknown to fame, 
where one-third of your number were killed or wounded ; to all the 
other of your thirty-four engagements, to their wonder would be 
added veneration ! 

A fragment of the regiment is here this day, surrounded by 
brave comrades of other regiments, who, in their turn, suffered pri- 
vation, pain, discouragement — and, in the end, had with you, the 
great joy that came with victory. With you, they bore their part, 
and performed the duty that came to thern, though separate on 
this and other fields, and with you they to-day are citizens of a 
common state, applying themselves to the civic duties that are their 
part, with the same obedience and fortitude that all exhibited a 
third of a century ago. 

In those days there were none who could tell of what would 
come when the citizens who had become soldiers came back to 
citizenship again. The whole world was in dread of the lawless 
hordes that would swarm from hamlet to hamlet, from the lonely 
wayside cottage to the village mansion, when the ranks were 
broken, and the restraints of military law were no longer potent. 
The subject occupied the thought, and excited the apprehension of 



i8 

people of every continent. Few, indeed, in our republic were there 
but felt that when the last soldier was mustered out and cast idle on 
the land, dire trouble would ensue. But, thanks to the quality of 
manhood of which the soldiery was composed, the whole military 
contingent quietly assimilated, with not a ripple to disturb the body 
politic. 

This memorial is placed here, not alone as a record of a regi- 
ment that had unusual service, but also as a tribute to your fealty 
to the nation, before, during, and since the War of the Rebellion. It 
speaks for the living as well as for the dead. Erected to those brave 
men who died just here, and to those who have died in peaceful 
homes on the hillsides of Connecticut ; erected to those who now 
toil in the fields and in the shops, and to him who died full of years 
and honors, a short time ago. 

It stands for the tears and anxieties of mother and of wife, who 
all those long months suffered at the hearthstone in New England, 
and this firm granite is no more fixed than were the hard furrows 
that seamed the faces of the fathers whose sons were offered on the 
altar of our country. It stands in strength and dignity, telling that 
restless and ambitious plotters were once met and brought to the 
knowledge that we were a nation. Yea, it tells the present, and 
will tell the future disturber of our peace that all over this broad 
land, sturdy, loyal men will, as before, quickly respond to their 
country's call, and, like you, become heroes in a day. That coming 
generations may be led to venerate the flag, and incited to deeds of 
valor in its defense, we dedicate this monument to the Fourteenth 
Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. 



19 

Chaplain HENRY S. STEVENS. 

This address was not delivered from manuscript and no ver- 
batim report was taken at the time. Even a stenographic copy 
could not give an accurate impression of it, since it would lack the 
surroundings which are indispensable to an understanding of its 
language. Standing on the platform the Chaplain requested the 
people to place themselves so as to get a clear view of the field in 
which the monument of the Fourteenth Regiment stands. He then 
pointed out the East Woods where the regiment formed in line of 
battle, the Mumma buildings. Roulette house and barn, Dunker 
church, positions of batteries and the sunken road, called " Bloody 
Lane." He then described in thrillmg words the advance of the 
regiment its engagement in the corn-field, and its withdrawal to the 
Roulette house. Then proceeding down the ''Bloody Lane," 
various items of interest were related and the whole company stood 
on the knoll which, on the day of the battle, was the noted 
" ploughed ground." On a pile of corn-stalks for a rostrum, Mr. 
Stevens pointed out to eager eyes the headquarters of McClellan, 
fords of the Antietam, Turner's Gap, South Mountain, and nearer 
at hand traced the position of various bodies of troops, the 
movements of the Fourteenth, and related their experience in this 
most exposed position and their subsequent change to the support 
of a battery farther up to the Union left. 

Incidents and observations by several of the veterans, questions 
by many of the company answered by the Chaplain, all lent deep 
interest to this part of the programme, which was as valuable as it 
was unique. Whatever of the more formal addresses of the day 
may be forgotten, it is certain the deep impressions and clear un- 
derstanding of the battle gained by those hearing this address will 
long be held in memory. 



DEDICATION 



OF THE 



iBiQhth IRcQiment flDonument 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER II, 2, P.M. 



I.IEUT. JOHN S. LANE, Meriden, Conn., 
Presiding. 



IproQrainine, 



/llbusic 



IDOCal /IRusiC — " Our Country's Flag,' 

BDDress 

/lib USiC — "America, " 



Sharpsburg Band 

Corp. A. E. Bartram 

Male Choir 

Capt. H. R. Jones 

Band 



prayer. 

Corporal A. E. BARTRAM. 

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who in Thy infinite 
love and goodness hast preserved the lives of so many who were en- 
gaged m the terrible battle on this very spot, thirty-two years and 
more ago, in the conflict to save the Union, and thus perpetuate 
those blessmgs which were so dear to our hearts, we thank Thee 
O God, for the success which through Thy power and goodness 
crowned our efforts. While we are not unmindful of the fearful 



21 



cost in blood and treasure, we remember with gratitude and love 
those noble men, brave and true exemplars of the most dauntless 
heroism, men who counted not their lives, dear unto themselves, if 
the Union might be preserved. Those were the comrades we 
loved ; and to-day sorrow fills our hearts as we remember and call 
them by name. Yet we rejoice that the sacrifice they made was 
not in vain, and we here dedicate to their memory this monu- 
ment. May it help not only to perpetuate their names, their sacri- 
fices, and their bravery, but also their virtues of patrotism and love 
of country, which are the very life and bulwark of our nation, and 
may it be an inspiration to future generations as they come and go, 
to be loyal to the " Old Flag," true to those principles for which 
their fathers fought, and under Thy blessing obtained the victory, 
because they were battling for freedom, for the right, for true lib- 
erty, and thus may they, and we, enjoy the privileges of one coun- 
try, one flag and one God ; the God of justice, mercy and love. 
And may the lives of these, our comrades, who are gathered here 
to-day, and those who are unable to be with us, be crowned with 
Thy blessing. To Thee we ascribe all praise, glory and honor, 
through Thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ forever. Amen. 



Capt. henry R. JONES. 

Comrades and Friends : 

We stand on hallowed ground. The story of this spot, 
written in blood in 1862, has passed into the history of the Re- 
public, and each loyal commonwealth, whose sons here did battle 
for the Union, has a share in the gallant record. The survivors of 



22 



four Connecticut regiments are here to-day to dedicate perpetual 
memorials of their several organizations. On one pilgrimage, and 
with a common aim, they are come, and each brings a tribute of 
loving remembrance for the comrade who here won a victor's 
laurels and a victor's grave. 

This hour, with its reminiscent story, belongs in a special man- 
ner to the Eight Connecticut Volunteers, and it is of them, for 
them, and to them that I shall briefly speak. In complying with the 
request to prepare an address for this occasion two difficulties have 
been encountered. First, there was a hesitation in withdrawing the 
service of my own regiment from that vast record of heroic deeds 
of which it forms a page, lest I might seem to be overmuch prais- 
ing the survivors, for whom I speak. But there came to me these 
words of Dr. Bushnell's grand commemoration address : " It is the 
ammunition spent that gains the battle, not the ammunition brought 
off the field. These dead are the spent ammunition of the war, 
and theirs above all is the victory." The other difficulty was, that 
the mention of single deeds of valor, must necessarily be omitted ; 
where every man was a hero a choice of names seemed impossible, 
and where leader and rank and file together threw themselves into 
the breach, they should have a common eulogy in their common 
death. 

When, in the dark days of the summer of 1861, President Lin- 
coln issued the call for volunteers for three years, Connecticut 
promptly responded. Regiments were organized and sent to the 
front with all possible speed. The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth were 
soon filled, and volunteers for the Seventh came forward in such 
numbers that the overplus — the New Hartford Company — formed 
the nucleus of the Eighth, and were ordered into camp in Hartford 
early in September. By the 15th the regiment was full, and the 
gallant Edward Harland, who won his spurs in the three months' 
service, commissioned as Colonel. 



23 

The regiment was well officered, and the rank and file repre- 
sented the best blood and sinew of six counties. Hartford sent two 
officers and nine men ; Bridgeport one officer and eight men ; Nor- 
wich the officer and thirty-three men of Company D. The rest were 
country boys; Meriden, which sent a company under Captain 
Upham, and Norwalk, which sent a detachment under Captain 
Fowler, being then but thrifty villages. The regiment, as it left 
Hartford for Annapolis, October 17th, 1861, halting at Jamaica, L. 
I., where it encamped two weeks, mustered over one thousand 
strong. Some were scholars ; some were farmers ; some were 
artisans or laborers— plain men who had never heard of 
Thermopyl^ or Sempach, but m whose breasts burned the fire of 
Leonidas at the pass ; of Winkelried, as he gathered to his bosom 
the Austrian spears and " made way for liberty." The inspiration 
of an exalted patriotism made heroes of them all. 

They were men that day who would stand alone 
On the bridge Horatius kept; 
They were men who would fight at Marathon, 
Who would battle with Stark at Bennington. 
When flashing from sabre and flint-lock gun, 
The fires of freedom leapt. 

Such was the heart and fibre of the men who embarked at An- 
napolis, November 6, to take part in that famous Burnside expedi- 
tion. We can but briefly follow the stormy and tedious voyage, the 
engagements at Roanoke Island and at Newbern, where the Eighth 
were'among the first over the ramparts, and where two men of the 
regiment were killed and four wounded. 

At Fort Macon, worn with the long siege, with ranks depleted 
by sickness, and forty dying of typhoid fever, the Eighth did most 
arduous service. Ordered forward to pick off the rebel gunners, 
eight men were killed and twenty wounded before the fort capitu- 



24 

lated. Colonel Harland was ill, Major Appleman wounded, and no 
field officer of the regiment was present to receive the surrendered 
flag, which trophy the Eighth had fairly won. 

Tediously the early summer of 1862 wore away to the soldiers 
encamped on the banks of the Neuse and at Newport News, with 
fever making inroads on constitutions worn by a laborious siege. 
August found them at Fredericksburg, near which city they were 
for a month on picket duty. 

But Washington was menaced, and August 31st saw the Eighth, 
with the Ninth Army Corps, on line of march for the Capital, from 
which city they moved September 8 to join McClellan's army in 
pursuit of Lee, arriving at Frederick just in time to see Jackson's 
cavalry driven out of its streets. 

On the 14th was won the furious and bloody fight of South 
Mountain, where the Eighth was under fire, but held in reserve, 
with the bullets cutting the branches of the trees ov rhead. 

At noon on the 15th of September the Ninth Corps took up 
the march from South Mountain to Sharpsburg, and morning found 
Harland's Brigade near Antietam Creek, where they remained all 
day within range of the rebel batteries on the heights beyond. At 
dark the brigade moved to position on the extreme Union left, and 
lay all night in line of battle. The Union line stretched for four 
miles along the Antietam, the enemy holding a position on the west 
side of the stream, protecting Sharpsburg, the bridges and the 
fords. General Burnside was in command of the Ninth Corps, 
which formed the left wing, Brigadier-General Rodman, of the 
Third Division, and Colonel Harland, of the Second Brigade ; the 
Eighth, Eleventh and Sixteenth Connecticut, and the Fourth Rhode 
Island. At sunrise a ball from a rebel battery crashed through the 
Eighth, killing three men, and frightfully wounding four. The 
Connecticut Brigade was early in the day advanced on the left to 
support a battery near the creek, and came again under a sharp fire. 



25 

But how shall tongue recount the stubborn fighting all through- 
out the day, the awful carnage all along the line, as four times the 
field was lost and won ? How shall we picture the desperate con- 
flicts in the cornfield and in the "bloody lane," or tell how Burn- 
side held the hill, or the Eleventh stormed the bridge, or Harland's 
Brigade forded the stream in the face of furious cannonading and 
raking musket fire ? 

At four o'clock Rodman's division was ordered forward. At 
the command from Colonel Harland the Eighth on the brigade 
right started, the Eleventh had not come up, the Sixteenth and the 
Fourth Rhode Island were delayed by some confusion of orders, but 
the Eighth, under Colonel Appleman, now on the extreme Union left, 
charged steadily up the hill, and as they reached the crest the rebel 
troops were but a few yards in front. 

Halting and firing as they can, the Eighth pass on until alone 
they gain the crest of the hill, with three batteries turned upon 
them and a storm of shot and shell sweeping through the ranks. 
The color guard falls ! Another siezes the standard, he too falls ! 
A third ! A fourth ! and with him the standard goes down. But 
Private Charles H. Walker, of Company D, siezes the staff and 
waves the riddled banner in the very face of the foe. The ofiicers 
stand like targets. Colonel Appleman falls ! . Nine others are 
wounded, staggering, dying. Men fall by scores, as thick and fast 
pours the leaden hail. Major Ward rallies the thinning ranks, and 
looks for re-inforcements. " We must fall back." And down the 
hill, in stern, unwilling column, march a hundred men where four 
times that number charged bravely up the slope. In the words of 
Chaplain Morris : 

" No regiment of the Ninth Corps has advanced so far, or held 
out so long, or retired in formation so good. By their stubborn fight 
they have saved many others from death or capture, and by their 
orderly retreat they saved themselves." 



26 

And here, on this spot, marking the advanced position of the 
regiment on that " bloodiest day that America ever saw," the Eighth 
has chosen its monumental site. Is it not indeed hallowed ground, 
its precincts baptised with the blood of one hundred and ninety- 
four men of the regiment here killed or wounded? In no battle of 
the war did Connecticut troops suffer so heavily. Harland's Brigade 
loss was six hundred and eighteen in killed and wounded, one of 
the heaviest brigade losses in the entire army. Here General Rod- 
man fell, mortally wounded, in the charge which cost Connecticut 
so dear. 

Night closed the contest, but Oh ! the appalling scenes after 
the battle, the agonies of the wounded and the dying, the unspeak- 
ably mournful tasks of the surgeons and the survivors who all that 
night and the next day buried their dead. Near the point where 
they made their gallant charge, side by side, were laid the dead of 
the Eighth, with rude pine headboards marking the graves. 

Continuing on duty with the Army of the Potomac, it was not 
until December that the Eighth saw fighting again, this time at 
Fredericksburg. At Fort Huger, Walthall Junction, Drury's Bluff, 
Cold Harbor, Fort Darling, Petersburg and Fort Harrison, the 
Eighth was engaged with more or less loss. 

At Drury's Bluff they were commended for special gallantry ; 
at Fort Harrison the regiment suffered a loss of eight killed and 
sixty-five wounded. On the 3rd of April, 1865, they were with the 
advance of the Union army at Richmond. After the close of the 
war the Eighth did military duty for several months at Lynchburg, 
and was mustered out December 12th, 1865, after a service of four 
years and two months, a longer time than was served by any Con- 
necticut regiment, except the First Artillery and the Thirteenth 
Infantry. 

Meager as has been the foregoing outlme of a four years' 
record of heroic sacrifice, it calls for an answer to the question : 



27 

*' For what cause did these men do battle ? " A candid look at the 
question compels the answer : "They and all the loyal men who 
fought from 1861 to 1865 were battling for Union and liberty 
against disunion and treason." Those good people who counsel that 
the issues of the late war should be spoken of only in whispers, who 
say, apprehensively, *' the war is over, we are all brethren again, 
don't mention the sectional differences of 1861," are demeaning the 
services of every man who fought in the late war for the Union. If 
the men who left home and all that was dear to peril life at their 
country's call had no high motive, no inspiration that is worth the 
mention, where was the heroism ? Take away the righteousness of 
a cause, and war is but stupendous butchery. 

I tell you, comrades, in such a place as this we must speak of 
the issues at stake in that dreadful war, or our hearts would burst 
as we contemplate the fearful cost at which this Union was saved, 
the Union for which these our brothers fought and bled and starved 
and died. The Union threatened with dismemberment, assailed by 
those who had sworn to support and defend it ! The Union, not 
only of Lincoln and the Republic of t86i, but the Union of Wash- 
ington and the men who fought in 1776, and cemented their rights 
of government in a ratification of the constitution of 1787. Wash- 
ington himself, who presided over the convention which framed 
our national constitution, said : "In all our deliberations we kept 
steadily in view that which appears to us the greatest interest of 
every true American — the consolidation of our Union — in which is 
involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, and, perhaps, our national 
existence." The Union, complete and indissoluble, was the first 
great principle of Washington's policy. In that immortal address 
at the close of his Presidential service, the father of his country 
summed up his farewell to his countrymen in these words : 

" It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the 
immense value of your National Union to your collective and in- 



28 

dividual happiness ; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, 
immovable attachment to it ; accustoming yourselves to think and 
speak of it as the palladium of our political safety and prosperity ; 
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety ; discount- 
nancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any 
event, be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the first 
dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country 
from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link to- 
gether the various parts." 

Shade of Washington, son of Virginia, noblest type of Southern 
chivalry ! Didst thou forsee that it would be a Virginian, one 
allied to thine own house, one nurtured and educated by the nation, 
who would turn traitor to his oath of fealty, and lead an army to 
destroy the structure thou didst rear, and dying, bequeath to this 
Republic ? 

The Union, the legacy of Washington and the fathers to suc- 
ceeding generations, the Union which had stood before the world 
for seventy years as the home of peace, of prosperity, of constitu- 
tional liberty ; whose emblem, the stars and stripes, was hailed as 
the banner of the free in every clime ; it was to preserve this from 
dismemberment, to snatch its banner from disgrace at home and 
from obloquy among the nations, it was for this that two millions 
of loyal men periled life in that four years' struggle, it was for this 
that blood ran as rivers on this ghastly field in 1862. 

And, thank God ! the Union was preserved. To-day it stands, 
forty four stars studding its blue ensign, seventy millions of people 
within its borders, with a prosperity and a future opening before it 
such as the world has never seen. 

Standing on the verge of the twentieth century, we look back 
thirty-two years, and say of those who fell here, and on every 
bloody field of that long conflict, " Theirs v/as a glorious death, 
and for a glorious cause, and its meaning grows more luminous 



29 

with the lapse of years. We were too near them to fully under- 
stand. They who fell never knew that Time, the great transmuter, 
would make heroes of them all. We saw their imperfections, we 
knew them as 7nen, future generations will know them as martyrs 
whose blood was the seed of a reunited nation. 

" So take them, Heroes of the songful Past ! 
Open your ranks, let every shining troop 
Its phantom banners droop, 
To hail Earth's noblest martyrs and her last. 
Take them, O Fatherland, 
Who dying, conquered in thy name : 
And, with a grateful hand. 
Inscribe their deeds who took away thy blame. 
Give, for their grandest all, thine insufficient fame ! 
Take them, O God, our brave. 
The glad fulfillers of Thy dread decree ; 
Who grasped the sword for Peace, and smote to save. 
And dying here for Freedom, died for Thee." 

And now, comrades in arms, tried friends in peace, we who 
came from this field in our young manhood, scathed, it may be, 
proud to carry through life an empty sleeve, a shattered breast, a 
halting step, an aching wound as our offering, where the supreme 
sacrifice was not required ; we who, on other fields, carried the 
musket or unsheathed the sword ; we who languished in prison pen 
or noxious swamp ; now, a handful, representing the two hundred 
survivors of the two thousand men who fought under the banner of 
the Eighth, we have come again. All things are changed ; these 
hills give back no echo of the battle's din ; no rushing charge 
tramples the grassy fields ; no gory tide flows down the quiet 
stream. The graves are leveled, their rough headboards gone. 

In yonder cemetery, watched by a nation's care, sleep those of 
our comrades who were left upon the field. Along the Carolina 



3° 

coast and on Virginian hills lie many more, while mouldering with 
kindred dust in the cemeteries of our own state, or in lonely graves 
'' by mount and stream and sea" the scattered remnant rest. For 
some the hand of affection has raised a memorial stone, and the 
names of many are graven on the soldier's monuments in the old 
home towns. Some lie in nameless graves, and of some the only 
record is the sad word "missing." 

But here is a monument for all. The State of Connecticut 
commissions us to-day to dedicate to the memory of every soldier 
of her Eighth Volunteer Infantry this monument, that henceforth 
none who served in that organization shall fail of a fitting me- 
morial. Here, cut in enduring granite, is their record of valor ; 
here the knapsack and the bayonet, symbols of the march and the 
intrepid charge. 

O, comrades ! who, weary with the march and the onset, have 
heard the tattoo call, drawn the curtains of your tents and fallen 
asleep — to you, we who remain, in the name of our grateful com- 
monwealth, dedicate this perpetual memorial. Be it ours to tend it, 
and ours to accept the legacy which you have left us — devotion 
until death, to a Union saved and reunited. 



DEDICATION 



Eleventb IReoiment nftonmnent. 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER II, 3, P.M. 



P. W. AMBLER, Esq., Danbury, Conn., 
Presiding. 



Iprooramme* 

/IbusiC Sharpsburg Band 

Ipra^er Rev. Geo. Russell Warner 

DOCal .^USiC — "Last Honors," Male Choir 

BJ)C>reS6 Col. Samuel B. Horne 

/lRU6iC Band 

prater. 

Rev. GEORGE RUSSELL WARNER. 

Almighty, eternal God, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, by 
whose will nations are cast down or stand, whose tender mercies are 
over all Thy works, we implore Thy blessing upon all the ser- 
vices this day, and this hour, on this historic field. And may 
they inspire in us still greater love for Thee, our God, for our coun- 
try, and for all mankind. 

Uphold, we pray Thee, the government of this great nation by 
Thy merciful, almighty power. Restrain all enemies of its peace 



32 

and prosperity. Defend us against all social evils and contentions. 
And may the divine institution, the family, the unit of the State, be 
effectually guarded from all the influences which would degrade 
and destroy it. That our sons may be as plants grown up in their 
youth ; that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after 
the similitude of a palace ; that we may be a great and happy peo- 
ple whose God is the Lord. 

Vouchsafe Thy blessing, we pray Thee, upon our public 
schools, the corner-stone of this Republic ; upon our colleges and 
seminaries of learning. May they, m their influence upon our chil- 
dren and youth, honor Thy great and holy name, and fail not to in- 
culcate the fundamental principles of constitutional liberty. 

Most heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favor to behold and 
bless all those in authority over us, and so replenish them with the 
grace of Thy holy spirit, that they may always incline to Thy will 
and walk in Thy way ; and may our rulers and people ever be ac- 
tuated by the principles of truth, duty, union and patriotism. 

Graciously accept our humble and hearty thanks for every 
token of the Divine favor to our land ; and unto Thee would we 
give all the glory of every step in our nation's progress, and for its 
preservation from those dangers which threaten its life. 

And now, O Father, bestow Thy blessing and benediction 
upon the services of this hour. Bless all those who have been in- 
strumental in the ereccion of this monument now to be unveiled, 
and those who shall participate in these patriotic services. May 
this monument prove an enduring memorial to future generations 
of the severe struggle upon this battlefield, and of the great victory 
of right over wrong, of truth over error, which finally came to our 
government, and may the impressive lessons of the day, quickened 
and intensified by the flowing tide of memory, sink deeply into our 
hearts, and manifest themselves in our lives to Thy glory, our own 
and the nation's good. 



33 



Assist us mercifully, O Lord, in these, our supplicating prayers, 
and dispose the way of Thy servants towards the attainment of 
everlasting salvation ; that among all the changes and chances of 
this mortal life they may ever be defended by Thy most gracious 
and ready help. And to the triune God, Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost, will we ascribe all might, majesty, dominion and power, 
world without end. Amen. 



CoL. SAMUEL B. HORNE. 
Survivors of the Eleventh Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers, Com. 
rades and Citizens : — 
We are assembled this day after a lapse of more than thirty- 
two years, upon the blood-stained and historic battlefield of Antie- 
tam ; where in years agone, the blood of many of you mingled with 
the life-blood of our then companions and tent-mates, who, mangled 
and dying, fell bleeding by your side on this eventful field. 

Looking back, as in a dream, over those fleeting years, we can 
realize that intemperate zeal had engendered in the land sectional 
animosities boding no good. 

An absolute disaffection prevailed through a large and popu- 
lous territory that was fast assuming the proportions of open re- 
bellion. 

What at first we regarded as a mere speck of trouble upon our 
southern horizon had swollen to the dimensions of a horrid war- 
cloud, which finally burst into a reality. 

It was in the darkest hour, when man's rights were almost m 



34 

their death throes, that the masses rose in their might, and vowed 
under God, that liberty should not perish from the earth. 

One absorbing thought filled every mind and throbbed in every 
heart. 

All differences were forgotten. The nineteenth century saw a 
heroic age. 

Wealth offered treasures and poverty its mite. Immense sums 
were subscribed to the national funds. Religion called her worship- 
pers each day to prayers, and unfurled the flag upon her temples. 

From every housetop streamed the Union colors. 

More than two millions sprung from their avocations and 
donned the blue. The dearest ties were severed. The choicest 
blessings sacrificed. Men bade adieu to homes, wives and chil- 
dren ; to affianced brides and widowed mothers. 

Rich and poor marched shoulder to shoulder and touched el- 
bows in a common cause. 

Bright boys left school or college, others the shop, the farm or 
counting-room, and bade good-bye to home and friends, seized mus- 
kets and hurried to the front. 

They knew they were to risk health, and endanger their lives. 
Unhoused, to be exposed to scorching heat and bitter cold, endure 
fearful marches, famished, to fall by the wayside — likely to die, as 
thousands did, without a chance to say " good-bye " to comrades 
near, and to lie in uncofifined graves. 

Yet all — all were welcome to swell that glorious band. It 
mattered not their color, creed or nationality. They were wel- 
comed as breathing the pure air of freedom to see that the Union 
of our fathers might be preserved. 

These sentiments pervaded every town and hamlet. 

Town, village, and every home sent forth her sons, and in con- 
fronting rebellion on southern soil stood the grandest and mightiest 
army ever marshalled in the holy cause of liberty and country. 



35 

It was not an invincible legion of middle-aged or gray-haired 
cavaliers, but the flower and gems of youth of a loyal country. 

History tells us that in the summer of 1864, the average age of 
the members of the Army of the Potomac was but twenty-two 
years. 

That estimate may be taken as a criterion, an index of the aver- 
age in that year, of the members of other corps, and armies that 
constituted that legion of honor which our first martyred president 
marshalled to his country's starry standard. 

You were there and of that army. Boys then — gray-haired 
veterans now. How soon you bade "good-bye " to your elder of- 
ficers and men, who were retired by resignation, or a needed trip 
through the hospital to the rear. 

The soldierly qualities of the youthful private, qualified him for 
promotion through the various grades to the command of the Elev- 
enth Regiment, or higher. 

You may justly feel proud to have served with it in any ca- 
pacity. Its flags, now, thank God, at the State Capitol, always oc- 
cupied an advanced position at the front. 

You Carried and maintained them there. 

Their silken folds and staffs have been torn and shattered by 
shot and shell. 

No other regimental emblems returned to the care of our Com- 
monwealth can speak to future generations in more eloquent and 
sympathetic terms of past service and glory, than their crippled and 
shattered condition, or of the heroic daring and bravery of the boys 
who marched, fought or died, under their inspiring folds. 

Their history and representation has been made a subject of 
comment in that exceedingly bright and interesting book, " My 
Story of the War," written by the brainy, eloquent and magnetic 
speaker and writer, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. 

You weaved for them that history. It is but a counterpart of 



3^ 

your own, as woven daring those impressive and terrible years of 
war. 

History does not stop at the flags. In speaking of your trials 
and dangers, the march and bivouac, the skirmishes and battles, the 
death of comrades, and the wounding and crippling of so many 
more, reference is made to the tragic story of your flags, and the 
fighting qualities of its defenders in Colonel Fox's " History of Reg- 
imental Losses in the Civil War," wherein the Eleventh Regiment 
of Connecticut Volunteers is classed among the "three hundred 
fighting regiments." 

When it is remembered there were several thousand regimental 
organizations in the field, from which this eminent and undisputed 
authority selected his material one, may wonder that at this date, 
a man survives of that once mighty phalanx, to dedicate this mag- 
nificent tribute to the fidelity, service, and courage of his former 
associates in arms. 

The same authority asserts that while Gettysburg was the 
greatest battle of the war, covering a period of three days' fighting, 
"Antietam was the bloodiest of the war." 

More men were killed on that day, September 17th, 1862, than 
upon any other one day during the war. 

There were greater battles, with greater loss of life, but they 
were not fought out in one day as at Antietam, where the bloody 
work commenced at sunrise and by four o'clock in the afternoon it 
was over. 

You were there as active participants and willing spectators of 
that bloody scene. 

What a thrilling experience for mere boys ! 

How memory must crowd you back to the recollections of that 
day. The stone bridge and the corn-field. 

Its booming cannon and rattling musketry, the charges and 
counter-charges. * 



37 

But what of your immediate part m that great contest ? 

It is best told in the language of the " Military History of 
Connecticut in the Civil War," for it was written by a participant at 
a time when the facts and circumstances were fresh in his memory. 
He says : 

" Colonel Kingsbury received orders from General Burnside to 
march the Eleventh Regiment to the bridge, after the batteries had 
shelled the rebel batteries on the other side, and hold it until Gen- 
eral Rodman could march his column over. 

" The Eleventh Regiment approached the bridge through a 
narrow defile in the woods, thence through a corn-field and over a 
ploughed field adjacent to the road. Your skirmishers advancing 
very briskly engaged the enemy on the opposite side, 

" Colonel Kingsbury gave command of the right wing to Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Stedman, with directions to advance and occupy a 
hill between the road and river, overlooking the bridge. Having 
accomplished this under a heavy fire, the right wing immediately 
engaged the enemy and lost very heavily in this position ; the 
sharpshooters of the enemy taking off your men very fast, while the 
enemy's main body lay concealed. Colonel Kingsbury at the same 
time brought up the left wing, where the men were exposed to an 
intense fire, to take up a position near the bridge. 

" All the rebel batteries were now roaring. The air rang with 
whistling bullets and the ground quaked with the hard breath of 
artillery. The Eleventh descended to storm Antietam Bridge. 
The rebel guns were pouring in a destructive fire of grape and can- 
ister, while continuous volleys from an unseen enemy in the woods 
were also showered upon them. 

" Down the road leaped the Eleventh, into the ' Valley of 
Death.' Company A and B, under Captain John Griswold, were 
deployed as skirmishers, and they plunged into the swift stream, 
here some fifty feet wide and four deep. Their dauntless com- 



3^ 

mander taking the lead, was shot in the breast in mid-river, but 
struggled forward, and fell on the opposite bank among the rebels. 

" The left wing of the regiment was now near the bridge. Col- 
onel Kingsbury was active, inciting the soldiers to the charge by 
his gallant bearing and the inspiration of his voice. Many men 
fell. The Colonel was a special mark, and he was soon shot in the 
foot, and immediately thereafter in the leg ; while he was being 
carried off the field he received a third ball in his .shoulder, and a 
fourth in the abdomen, inflicting a mortal wound. 

" The Eleventh fought stubbornly, for a time without support ; 
but at last other regiments came up, with a wild cheer they swept 
down the hill and charged across the bridge, driving the rebels 
back and making a permanent lodgment on the opposite slope. 

"The Eleventh was relieved, and spent an hour in gathering up 
the dead and caring for the wounded. Colonel Stedman brought 
the regiment back to the bridge, crossed, and advanced rapidly 
toward the cornfield where the brigade was fighting. The enemy 
was pressing down hard upon the left and front, and he now sup- 
ported a battery that had been advanced to a crest of a hill in front 
of the Eleventh. Shot and shell rained plenteously. Twice had the 
Eleventh rallied for a charge, and finally drove the enemy, and the 
battery was saved. 

" Colonel Kingsbury was dead, Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman 
was wounded and weak with the loss of blood. Major Moegling was 
wounded, Captain Griswold was dead. Companies were squads 
without officers, and officers with broken swords and battered uni- 
forms, but without commands. 

" The next morning Lee's pickets retired and ours advanced. 
Our wounded cared for, attention was turned to burying the dead. 
All day went on the excavation of graves where the martyrs found 
a truce, and as the shadows lengthened and faded out the sad work 
was ended." 



39 

Had we then pushed the retreating army of Lee, it is more than 
probable that the war would have come to a speedier close. 

In Harper s Monthly for August last, in speaking of the battle 
of Antietam, Mr. George W. Smalley, a veteran correspondent, 
throws an interesting light upon that famous battle, and the attitude 
of the Union army towards its commander, General McClellan, of 
that memorable field. 

Mr. Smalley's narrative is highly significant, as showing the 
spirit which animated the national troops at that early period of the 
war, their readiness to follow wherever a brave and aggressive com- 
mander might lead. 

That McClellan was too slow is now universally acknowledged. 

He fought too much after the eighteenth century fashion, be- 
fore the French Revolution had revealed that courage, dash and en- 
ergy were of more importance than tactics, and that victory might 
be achieved without a strict adherence to the forms of drill. 

McClellan believed in fighting after the programme of a parade 
and his deliberate methods gave the enemy ample warning of his de- 
signs. 

'' Fighting Joe Hooker " was a man of another stamp. If head- 
long bravery was then a fault, he was then far from faultless, and 
it was no wonder that long before the battle was over Hooker was 
severely wounded in the foot. 

All of this is matter of history. 

Soldiers of the second American revolution : Veterans of the 
sublimest war in the annals of history — Need I recount your deeds 
at] Newbern, South Mountain, Fredericksburg, Suffolk and its 
seige. Swift's Creek, Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and 
your entry into the rebel capital, Richmond ? 

History tells the story. I need not dwell upon it, or consume 

time. 

Of some men, on this occasion, I would say a word. 



40 

They were known to you, and their history is in part that of 
the Eleventh Regiment and its movements. 

You all remember the first officer to fall in our first baptism of 
fire and successful battle — Newbern, March 14th, 1862 — Captain 
Edward R. Lee of Company D. A descendant of revolutionary 
stock, he grew up with an intense love of country, and prized re- 
publican institutions as being worth all toil and sacrifice. 

That magnificent soldier, disciplinarian, and daring officer, 
Colonel Kingsbury, who came to us from the regular army, fell 
upon this field. 

He had already made this one of the best disciplined organiza- 
tions in the service, when Lieutenant-Colonel Griffin A. Stedman 
became Colonel. 

Major Converse, Captain Amos D. Allen and Adjutant Samuel 
C. Barnum were mortally wounded and soon died, and along list of 
officers and a host of men were wounded. 

You well remember Comrade Converse. Upon this field he 
was Adjutant to Colonel Kingsbury, and was promoted to be Major 
for skill and particular valor upon that occasion. Of him Dr. 
Nathan Mayer, for some time Surgeon of the Eleventh Regiment, 
and now a distinguished physician and surgeon of Hartford, who 
knew him well, has thus written : 

'•He had infinite humor, yet, under the comic mask wore a 
strong, feeling heart. He loved well and hated strongly. He was 
a prompt officer, very absolute and strict. Not familiarly popular, 
but always trusted and well obeyed. His character was fast rooted 
in absolute firmness and incorruptible integrity, and adorned with 
native courtesy and an exquisite sense of honor." 

It has been left for me to speak of Adjutant Samuel C. Bar- 
num, for he was my Second Lieutenant in Company E, from which 
position he was quickly promoted to Regimental Adjutant. At the 
battle of Cold Harbor he was Brigade-Adjutant-General to Colonel 



41 

Stedman, who commanded our brigade. He was intimately known 
by every man in the regiment, and was as popular and brave as the 
gallant. Colonel Stedman. 

With a shattered knee, in great pain, but without a murmur of 
complaint, he was conveyed in an ambulance with me all that dreary 
night to the landing, and thence to Washington by boat. We 
parted ; he being sent to one hospital, I to another. That was our 
last parting. Amputation of the limb took place, a re-amputation 
had to be performed. The loss of blood and vitality was too great ; 
his system could not stand the strain ; the cord of life was soon 
snapped. His remains lie buried in the beautiful town of Norfolk 
on the highest range of the mountain county — Litchfield. He was 
a sweet and delightful companion ; always prompt, brave and col- 
lected ; never harsh or angry. To say that he was a good citizen, a 
faithful friend, a charming companion and a gallant soldier, would 
but poorly fill the measure of his merits. 

Little less can be said of Captain Amos D. Allen, who came to 
us with a commission from the gallant Fifth Connecticut Regiment. 
So, too, do his remains peacefully rest in the same county — in his- 
toric Cornwall, near those of the illustrious General Sedgwick. 

August 5th, so soon after the terrific charge at Cold Harbor, 
on June 3d, was a bloody day for our forces. In it the missiles of 
death swept down our dear Colonel Stedman, and Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Moegling. The wound of Colonel Stedman was mortal. He 
had just been commissioned as General. 

His character is best told by our Chaplain, who writes : " His 
culture, his refinement, his urbanity, his taste, his delicacy and puri- 
ty of sentiment, fitted him well for social intercourse. But he had 
royal and martial qualities. He stood like the mighty monarch of 
the forest, while weaker fibre of other growth, yielded to the tem- 
pest and fell." 

The Regiment will long remember Friday, June 17th, 1864 



42 

Of the organization, and just subsequent to that day, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Moegling, in his report, said : 

" Since May 9th, the Eleventh has been under fire twenty-three 
times, and has lost four hundred men in action, and over half of its 
officers. It has marched many miles with but very few stragglers, 
and has always done its duty without flinching." 

Upon that day one of our best and most loving captains was 
stricken down. I refer to Captain William N. Sackett, who, when 
the war first began, enlisted in a three-months' regiment, and later 
joined us as a second lieutenaut. Upon this field by his cool brav- 
ery and gallantry, he was at once promoted. 

He did not expect to survive that terrible campaign. He had 
made due provision for the disposal of his body and effects. This 
premonition, alas, too true, did not deter him from the full perform- 
ance of a soldier's duty He fell in the din of battle, a " heroic 
leader among heroic men." 

Two Colonels, our Major and Adjutant, many Captains, and 
others killed. The Lieutenant-Colonel (Moegling) often wounded, 
but to die at home, while the regiment was yet in the field. 

Need I speak further of the heroic dead ? Their record stands 
in your memory, and upon the pages of the history of the war. May 
I be pardoned if I say a word of one of our comrades who yet sur- 
vives? Much may be said about the history in camp and civil life 
of all, but I know you will pardon me if I especially make mention 
of but one. 

Of Corporal Henry A. Eastman, of Company K, who, when 
our colors wavered upon this field, stepped forth, and, with flashing 
eye, said, "Give me the 'colors,'" and, with a burst of cheers, the 
Eleventh followed its bold color bearer, and the battery was saved. 

A magnificent act of personal bravery. It is no wonder that 
such heroism subsequently brought to him a Captain's commission, 
or that his comrades have made him an honored member of the 



43 

General Committee who have in charge this beautiful memorial 
and the programme of to-day. 

It would be out of place and a want of refined taste for me to 
follow the example of the clerical gentleman, the orator of the day, 
at the recent dedication of the Confederate monument at Rich- 
mond, or the garrulous, bitter and vain-glorious General Rossiter, 
whom " Sheridan and his troopers sent whirling up the valley," in 
unkind allusions or bitter tirade against the brave men who were 
then our foes, and who should now be our warmest friends. We 
we e right and won. They were wrong and lost. The story is brief. 
If, however, they deem it gallant and chivalrous to use such 
language towards us, we can stand it. Yet I do not believe they 
express the true sentiment of the brave men against whom we fought. 
We can't forget, but we can forgive, and do. We look upon 
them as brothers of our common mother country. We must re- 
member that we have outgrown the past, and that we have entered 
on a new and high national life. 

We honor our State for this beautiful gift. It is a lesson 
of love. Its mute bearing will tell the present and future genera- 
tions why and for whom it is placed here. The story will flash 
down the ages and help to light unborn millions to the highway of 

patriotism. 

" Lo ! Another age is rising 

In the coming years I see; 

Hopes and promises of blessing, 

Light, and love, and liberty. 

All the good the past hath garnered, 

All the present yet hath won. 

Fade before the glorious future 

Like the stars before the sun ; 

Truth for every eye is shining, 

In the fullness of that day — 

Joy, and Hope, descended angels, 

Rest, no more to pass away." 



DKD IC AXION 



Siyteentb IReoiment nftonument. 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER II, 4, P.M. 



Adjutant J. B. CLAPP, Hartford, Conn., 
Presidins:. 



proaramme^ 

iPra^er Rev. P. V. Finch 

"dnveilina /Iftonumcnt Mrs. Col. F. W. Cheney 

/IBusiC Sharpsburg Band 

BDDress Col. F. W. Cheney 

IDOCal /IftUSiC Male Choir 

Ipocm Surgeon Nathan Mayer 

/IRuSiC Band 

invocation an& JSeneMction .... Rev. Charles Dixon 



prater. 

Rev. p. V. FINCH. 

O, God, who dwellest above the heavens ; clouds and darkness 
are round about Thee, righteousness and judgment are the habita- 
tion of Thy seat ; and yet, though throned above, Thou art not far 
from any one of us, for in Thee we live, and move, and have our 
being. Be with us during this solemn, consecrated hour, and give 
us Thy blessing. 

We would recall Thy mercies in ages past. As Thou gavest to 







MONUMENT SIXTEENTH REGIMENT CONN. VOLS. 



45 



Thy chosen people a good land, a land of brooks of water, of 
fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills ; a land of 
wheat and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates ; a 
land of olive oil and honey ; a land wherein they could eat bread 
without scarceness, and in which they lacked nothing ; a land whose 
stones were iron, and out of whose hills they might dig brass, so 
didst Thou guide our fathers to this goodly heritage. It was not 
through their sword that they got the land in possession, but 
through Thy right hand and Thine arm, and the light of Thy 
countenance, because Thou hadst a favor unto them. 

As we acknowledge with grateful hearts the gift of this fair 
heritage, so may we remember, God of our fathers, that they laid 
the foundations of the republic which has risen here, in blood ; that 
when its life was assailed and endangered, it was saved through 
blood, and that the very soil on which we are now standing is con- 
secrated by that blood, the blood of men who counted not their 
lives dear so that the blessings of liberty might be preserved and 
perpetuated. We thank Thee for the lives of those men, our com- 
rades, who fell beside us on this field of strife. As we recall the 
costly libation poured out upon this very spot upon the altar of 
liberty, may we be impressively reminded that all the good we have 
or enjoy comes to us through the sufferings of others ; that the 
very life which we now have is the result of maternal anguish ; that 
in the sweat of the brow we must eat bread ; that nature's secrets 
are wrung from her by the sweat of the brain, and that the peace 
of our nation and of the nations of the earth has been purchased 
for us by the blood of heroes whose bones lie mouldering upon a 
thousand battlefields. To noble heroes, our own dead, who, in the 
cause of liberty and union, fell here, we dedicate this monument, 
most earnestly beseeching Thee, Almighty God, that it may be 
precious in Thy sight, and forever reverenced and hallowed in the 
affections of mankind ; that all who would desecrate and profane it 



46 

may be driven herefrom by the invisable guardians and protectors 
of the ashes of the dead ; that those whom it commemorates, and 
who have been gathered to their home in the grave, may rest in 
peace and safety ; that their sleep may be sweet ; and that the 
time may soon be accomplished when all that are in their grave 
shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth ; and 
when we, with those departed who have built abiding characters 
upon the foundation of the Christian virtues, and have done their 
duty to God, to their fellow men, to their country and to them- 
selves, shall have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body 
and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory. 

Grant, O Heavenly Father, that upon this sacred spot where so 
many precious, patriotic lives we sacrificed, we may consecrate our- 
selves anew in fealty to our common country. May we interest 
ourselves heartily in all that concerns its welfare, and especially in 
efforts to secure the appointment of good men and true to positions 
of responsibility and trust in the management of its affairs. 

Bless the Governor of this State, of the commonwealth whose 
honored name this regiment bears, and which generously aids in the 
erection of this monument to her sons, the President of the United 
States, and our Senate and Representatives who constitute our Na- 
tional Congress. So rule their hearts and govern their minds in 
their deliberations and actions legislative and executive, for the wel- 
fare of the nation, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, relig- 
ion and piety may be established among us for all generations. 

Vouchsafe us Thy countenance and aid in the remaining exer- 
cises and ceremonies in which we would honor the memory and 
virtues of departed worth. Direct us in all that we may do with 
Thy most gracious favor, and further us with Thy continuous help, 
that in all our works begun, continued and ended in Thee, we may 
glorify Thy holy name ; and that finally through the grave and gate 
of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection through Him who 



47 

died, and was buried, and rose again for us. Thy Son, our Saviour, 
Jesus Christ, in whose perfect form of words and with voices, we 
sum up these, our petitions. Our Father, who art in heaven, 
hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on 
earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and for- 
give us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil. For 
Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory. 



Col. F. W. CHENEY. 

Coinrades : — We made our first pilgrimage to this spot five 
years ago, and decorated the graves of our companions in the Na- 
tional Cemetery, where our grateful country laid them at rest and 
keeps watch and guard over them. This is as it should be, but a 
feeling came over us that we would like to have our own grave- 
yard — our own God's Acre — here, where our regiment stood the 
brunt of its first battle. 

After awhile we were able to get possession of this lot. We 
wanted to share it with our gallant comrades of the Eighth and Elev- 
enth Regiments, who were brigaded with us. We would gladly have 
any other regiments of our State, or of any other State, who have 
loyal associations with this part of the field, place their memorials 
here. We recognize the feelings which made some of them prefer 
other localities where their daring carried their colors furthest to 
the front. But we must keep in mind that " we, too, like the leaves, 
are falling," and our ranks are thinning fast. In a few years, only 
a few of us will be left to care for this place, and when all of us 



48 

have passed on, what disposition shall be made of it to insure the 
preservation of the monument our State has generously erected ? 
Shall we ask the State to accept the guardianship ? Or turn it over 
to the National Antietam Cemetery Association, when it has been 
organized and duly prepared to assume charge of the whole bat- 
tlefield ? The latter course would seem to be the most appropriate. 
It rests with you to decide what to do. 

The general history of the Battle of Antietam has been written 
many times, and rewritten in all of its details. Just and unjust praise 
has been bestowed for what was done, and vain regrets wasted 
over what was left undone. The part of its true history which 
comes home to us to-day is that in which this small remnant of our 
regiment and our dead comrades were a part. The story of each 
man's own life is the only atom of history he has knowledge of at 
first hand, — what he knows about himself and his companions in 
arms ; how they came to be soldiers ; how they lived and looked in 
camp and on the march, in winter and summer, in storm and sun- 
shine, at rest and in the thick of the fight ; alive — full of courage 
and high hopes ; then, dead on the field, or sadder yet, in the hos- 
pital ; the hurried burial, or the slow funeral march ; the last volley 
over the grave, and the march back to quick time. These war 
scenes come rolling over you with those of that bloody day at An- 
tietam thirty-two years ago. 

And with them comes floating in the air the refrain of old war 
songs, the words of which may now seem rude and unmeaning to a 
younger generation ; but the men who sung them in those days yet 
feel their heart-strings vibrate with the strams of " We are coming, 
Father Abraham, three hundred thousand strong ! " " Tramp, 
tramp, tramp, the boys are marching ! " and, " Glory, glory, halle- 
lujah, his soul is marching on ! " 

There is music in the air. It m.atters not what the words are. 
They are sung by hosts above and around us, and rise and fall as 



49 

they come from near by or far away, to where the boys sang the 
chorus from Atlanta to the sea. They bring back to our souls, 
aHve to them as they must be to-day, the inspiration of high hopes 
and noble deeds, the memories of which crowd upon us as we stand 
together around the monument our State has placed here in memo- 
ry of those who gave their lives that our country might live — a na- 
tion, not broken into fragments. 

Our own work is nearly done. Our children must carry it on. 
Let us bring them up so that they will hold fast to the faith of their 
fathers, in the old flag, and all it represents, and to believe that 
brave men fought and died for it down here in Maryland, where we 
now dedicate this monument, on the spot consecrated by the blood 
of our comrades — soldiers of the Union mustered out. 

Antietam, October ii, 1894. 



(^ 



Hntietam* 

Surgeon NATHAN MAYER. 

OMRADES ! the value of a thing 
Is stamped by sacrifice we bring 
In its attainment. If bright gold 
Like sand and pebbles 'round us rolled, 
And pearls like daisies blossomed nigh, 
We should admire — yet let them lie ! 
'Tis by the effort and the strain. 
The reaching forth with might and main, 
The sudden summons into play 
Of forces that within us lay, 



50 

The risks we boldly gauge and take, 

The loss we dare though hearts should break. 

The living price, whate'er it be, 

Which we fling in for victory. 

By all we gave and all we lost — 

A chosen self-appointed cost — 

We mark on scales of human fame 

The human value of our aim. 



Who senses e'er the merry day 
Of childhood's growth or boyhood's play ? 
When, sweet life stirring every hour 
Brings keener knowledge, firmer power, 
And forces weave from span to span 
The mightier texture of a man ? 
Who senses it, till, past recall, 
The self-same forces fail and fall ? 
And who can realize the worth 
Of all the miracles on earth 
'J'hat, commonplace and every day, 
Compel our course ? The lighsome ray, 
The air we breathe, the earth below 
That moulds the fruit, the water's flow, 
The sense with which we see and deal. 
The heart by which we love and feel, 
The liberty that makes us man — 
All these we have, yet never can 
We know their worth until we need 
And have them not ; then stung to deed 
By courage born of stress and pain. 
We combat that we might regain 



5^ 

What erst we held at lightsome rate — 

A birthright ; till avenging fate 

Demands for it the bloody fee 

Of battle and of victory. 

'Tis only thus we sense the cost 

Of what we held and what we lost. 



So was our Union. Mighty source 

Of power and glory, and the force 

That awed the world and kept us free 

Forefended by the boundless sea. 

It was the force that made us great, 

Where each one stood for every State, 

And every State for each was 'gaged. 

And friendly interests but waged 

A war of mutual excellence. 

Yet knew we not, and could not sense 

The life-need of this bond of power 

Until it broke. Then, in one hour. 

With sudden jar the wide-spread land 

Did see, and feel, and understand 

What Union was, what it must be — 

Our guard of peace and liberty ! 

Then, like a sea, the hearts of all 

That loved their country, rose. A call 

Went forth — from whom, from whence, who knows ? 

It flamed up as the wild wind blows. 

From every lip rang forth the cry. 

And every heart beat quick reply. 

And every hand was raised and swore 

Union for a)^e and evermore ! 



52 

Far o'er the hills and through the dales. 
Resistless as the storm-king sails, 
This rally leaped from ear to ear. 
It blew out prudence, cast out fear, 
Shredded apart with ne'er a strife 
The ordinary bonds of life, 
And stamped stern purpose on each soul 
To save the country, one and whole I 



This brought us here — a thousand men 

With hearts on fire — but bare in ken 

Of warlike methods and of arms. 

Such as they came from shops and farms, 

From busy mart, from college halls. 

From life 'tween close-set office walls, 

They stood in line, undrilled, untrained. 

Though shrapnel burst and bullets rained 

Beyond the broad brook's verdant banks, 

Among the green corn's waving ranks, 

They fill the gap ! — Forward I — Advance ! - 

They send their lead down in the dance 

Of Death, who sweeps with crimson hand 

O'er the blue hills of Maryland. 

And forward still I Stern duty placed 

Their brave and untried ranks. — Square faced 

Against the picked men of the South, 

Against their batteries' belching mouth. 

Against the fire-lined gray stone wall — 

A living line to stand or fall — 

They met their fate, this martyr band. 

For Union and their Native Land ! 



53 

And now we come when years have gone, 

When all the States are made as one, 

When what was welded in the fire 

Of contest, peace has drawn up nigher 

And stronger bound — we come intent 

To dedicate a monument. 

To whom ? To those that fell ? To all 

That hither came to live or fall ! 

To all who in this holy strife 

Went forward with their sweet young life 

Prepared to give. And, let it show, 

Set high in noonday's golden glow 

Upon this verdant field of blood, 

That life is not the highest good. 

But higher, holier, sweeter far 

Are life's ideals. Like a star 

They point to sacrifice, whose fruit 

Lives on, though tongues are^mute, 

The future of the land, the fate 

Of eras that upon us wait 

The race to come, and liberty 

Secure for all the times to be — 

They dwindle human lives to naught ! 

'Tis to the cause to which we fought, 

The Country in its strength and might 

Enthroned in Justice, ruled by Right, 

A splendid chain of beauteous lands. 

The Union of the Continent — 

To THESE we set our monument ! 



54 

Invocation* 

Rev. CHARLES DIXON. 

O God, our Heavenly Father, creator of heaven and earth, we 
thank Thee for this nation, for our independence which was secured 
by the toils, sacrifices, sufferings, and blood of our revolutionary fa- 
thers. We thank Thee for its wonderful and unparalleled history, 
for its signal prosperity, in the past, so that it rose to a proud emi- 
nence amongst the nations of the earth. We thank Thee that when 
smitten by the mad hand of rebellion, the glorious old flag, the stars 
and stripes of our Union was fired upon by the men who had been 
protected beneath its folds, and shared in its benefits and blessings. 
We thank Thee that when the war was proclaimed, there was social 
and political virtue enough to save the nation. There were noble 
men whose hearts glowed and burned with patriotic fire. Who left 
friends and home and went to the field of carnage and death, fol- 
lowed by the prayers, the tears and benedictions of loving hearts. 
Men that were worthy of the noble cause of liberty for which they 
fought. 

We thank Thee for this day's privileges of visiting the historic 
battlefield of Antietam, and dedicating four monuments to perpet- 
uate the names and deeds of the heroes dead and living. We thank 
Thee for the striking and pleasant contrast between to-day and 
thirty-two years ago. We thank Thee that a remnant of the 
mighty host that were here then are permitted to meet once more 
together. We pray that if it be Thy will they may be spared for 
many years to come, that when they come to meet the last enemy, 
they may be able to send up the shout of triumph, " I have fought 
a good fight, finished my course, kept the faith, henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of life, which the Lord, the righteous 
judge, shall give unto me at that day. To God be all the glory." 
Amen. 



DD 



Xiet of ]£xcur6ioni6t9. 



Edwin Andrews, Deep River. 
P. W. Ambler and wife, Danbury. 
A, Allen, Thomaston. 
Charles Avery, Hartford. 
Clarence E, Atkins, INIiddletown. 

F. M. Alford, Avon. 

Horace M. Andrews, Hartford. 

William H. Allen, Avon. 

J. W. Anderson and wife, Springfield, 

Mass. 
H. M. Adams and wife, Canaan. 
Edward A. Atwater, wife and daughter, 

Cheshire. 
J. H. Bilson, South Manchester. 
H. C. Baldwin and wife. Beacon Falls. 

G. H. Blakeslee, Bristol. 
Henry Bristol, Westville. 

Major J. C. Broatch and wife. Middle- 
town. 

J. D. Beecher, Bristol. 

J. N. Brown, New Hartford. 

Henry Bullard, Middletown. 

A. E. Bartram, Bridgeport. 

Mrs. Wm. H. Bevin, East Hampton. 

Robert W. Burke, Middletown. 

Oliver T. Bishop, Avon. 

C. F. Brown Springfield, Mass. 

Mrs. F. M. Barber, Glastonbury, 

John J. Brown, Riverhead. 

Geo. N, Brigham and wife, Rockville. 

Mrs, Emily \V. Brown, Manchester 
Green. 

R. J, Barber and wife, Rockville. 

Mrs. A. T. Bradley, Hartford, 



Mrs. C. H. Beaton, New Britain, 
H, C. Baldwin, Beaver Falls. 
Henry E. Bradley, Hartford. 
George F. Buxton, Norwalk. 
C. H. Bradford, New Haven, 
Frank Bragg, Hartford. 
Harry G. Bragg, Hartford. 
James M, Bacon, Groton, 
O. W. Bradley, Meriden. 
Mrs. Wm. H. Brown, E. Hampton. 
Charles E. Baker, West Stafford. 
Edwin L. Barnum, Danbury. 
Joseph Bishop, New Haven. 
Miss M. Brennan, Montville, 
Joseph A. Close, Stamford. 
Col. F. W, Cheney and wife. South 

Manchester. 
John E. Case, Avon, 
J. C. Calvert, New London. 
Mrs. Lucy W. Clark, Middletown. 
W, A, Coley, South Norwalk. 
T. W. Charter and wife, E. Haddam. 
W. H. Clark and wife. New Haven. 
John S. Cheney, So, Manchester, 
Seth L, Cheney, So, Manchester, 
F, A, Cummings, Hartford. 
Alice T. Cummings, Hartford. 
Charles H. Case, Hartford, 
S, A, Cooper, Colebrook. 
C. H. Culver and wife, Ashwillett, 
Gen, John B. Clapp, Hartford, 
Fred A. Crane, Bristol, 
George Crippen, Stonington. 
James Curley, Franklin, Mass. 



56 



John B. Cone, Haitford. 

Abe Cope, Thompsonville. 

George S. Collins, Hartford. 

C. G. Cummings, Spring Hill. 

Harlon Draper, Mystic. 

L. Swift and wife. Mystic. 

H. B. Cook, Bristol. 

A. R. Crittendon, Middletown. 

E. J. Couch, Ridgefield. 

S. G. Clary and wife, New Britain. 

H. Cady and wife, Worcester, Mass. 

L. G. Clark, Hartford. 

Wm. Copp, Groton. 

C. L. Crane, Manchester. 

Miss Cora M. Crane, Manchester. 

Geo. A. Dennison and wife, Hartford. 

Miss M. J. Dart, Hartford. 

Seth Durfee, Rockville. 

Mrs. T. M. Durfee, Middletown. 

Mrs. Emily A. Dugan, Agawam, Mass. 

Wm. Dugan, Agawam, Mass. 

E. Dart, Rockville. 

L. A. Dickinson, Hartford. 

E. E. Dunbar, Derby. 

Miss Ella Dunbar, Derby. 

J. H. Emerson, Thompsonville. 

L. B. Evarts, New London. 

Mrs. M. J. Eastman, Hartford. 

James W. Eldredge, Hartford. 

Andrew Flood, East Hampton. 

Fred L. Flood, Stamford. 

A. H. Funk, Bristol. 

Chaplain P. V. Finch, Greenfield. 

Thomas W. Gardner, New London. 

Wm. W. Gowdy and wife, Springfield, 

Mass. 
O. M. Gilman, Burnside. 



S. H. Goodrich, East Hartford. 

C. H. Gaylord, Kent. 

Mrs. Ida C. Gadsby, Hartford. 

Mrs. L. J. Gilbert, New Britain. 

Captain H. B. Goddard, Baltimore, Md. 

C. Gray, New York, N. Y. 

G. S. Goodrich, Middlefield. 

Waterman Griggs, Chaplin. 

Ira L. Gardner and wife, Middletown. 

James Goodwill, Bristol. 

Frederick Gallup and wife, Groton. 

John Grinnill and daughter, Hartford. 

S. B. Home, Winsted. 

Miss Belle Home, Winsted. 

Charles H. Hills, Hartford. 

P. H. Heroy and W. W. Heroy, New 

York, N. Y. 
M. W. Hatch, New Haven. 
George Hotchkiss, New Hartford. 
Thomas J. Hubbard, Torrington. 

F. W. Hopper and wife. West Haven. 
Henry A. Hull, New Brunswick, N, J. 
H. C. Holmes, Middletown. 

M. T. Hollister, Noroton. 
W. Huntington, Hartford. 

A. Park Hammond and wife, Rockville. 
E. L. Heath and wife, Rockville. 
Norman L. Hope, Hartford. 

Miss Bessie M. Hope, Hartford. 
Mrs. A. C. Hills, Hartford. 
Miss Alice M. Hills, Hartford. 
Miss Mary G. Huntington, Hartford. 
J. C. Hills, Harttord. 

B. Hotchkiss, Cheshire. 

G. A. Huntington and wife, Mansfield 

Depot. 
John C. Ives, Meriden. 



57 



John IngHs, Middletown. 

Miss Jennie Inglis, Middletown. 

Dr. L. Jewett and wife, Cobalt. 

Arthur Jewett, Cobalt. 

Horace K. Jones and wife, Hartford. 

W. B. Johnson, Seymour. 

Henry R. Jones, New Hartford. 

Howard K. James, New York, N. Y. 

William B. Jones, Portland, Me. 

Mrs. O. H. Jones, Hartford. 

Colonel J. W. Knowlton, Bridgeport. 

S. C. Kingman, Washington. 

O. P. Keith, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

George W. Keith, Sonth Manchester. 

Wm. H. Loomis and wife, Rockville. 

O. J. Logan, Washington Depot. 

Wm. H. Lockwood and wife, Hartford. 

George E. Lover, Greenfield Hill. 

Patrick Lennox, Ridgefield. 

W. H. Lamphere, Mystic. 

J. S. Lane and wife, Meriden. 

Mrs. J. Leroy, New York, N. Y. 

J. W. Langdon, Hartford. 

Mrs. G. P. Lines, New Haven. 

G. C. Morris, Sag Harbor. 

Henry Merriman, Norwich. 

Dr. Nathan Mayer, Hartford. 

Stephen Mahlin, wife and daughter, 
Hartford. 

John McPherson, Rockville. 

Jeff. D. Miller, Hartford. 

John McCready, Thompsonville. 

Frank B. Maine, Springfield, Mass. 

Samuel J. Nettleton, Washington De- 
pot. 

Clarence B. Nettleton, Washington De- 
pot. 



S. T. Noble and wife. Rockville. 
W. H. Nelson, Waterbury. 

D. Ward Northrop, Middletown. 
F. B. Norton, Bristol. 
George E. Northrop, Southport. 
George Norton, New Haven. 
George P. North, Thomaston. 
B. B. Owen, East Hampton. 

E. H. Preston and wife, Rockville. 
D. W. C. Pond, Hartford. 
Julian Pomeroy, Springfield, Mass. 
Henry L. Porter. 

H. A. Peck, Bristol. 

F. C. Palmer and wife, Montville. 
B. A. Peck, Naugatuck. 

Miss N. Peck, Naugatuck. 

Charles A. Pelton, Middletown. 

H. N. Parker, Deep River. 

Henry A. Page. 

Mrs. Emily J. Prior. 

Capt. C. Quien and wife, Danbury. 

Miss Lena Quien, Danbury. 

T. B. Robinson, Bristol. 

S. W. Rubinson, Buffalo, N. Y. 

W. H. Robinson, Manchester Green. 

Palmer A. Richards, Chaplin. 

T. F. Rose, Ivoryton. 

Ralph R. Reed, South Windsor. 

Mrs. Fred Richards, Hartford. 

Jos. Stafford, Rockville. 

John H. Sullivan, Worcester, Mass. 

B. M. Sears, Spring Hill. 

T. C. Swan, Hartford. 

T. P. Strong, Durham. 

H. E. Savage, East Berlin. 

John Simpson, New Haven. 

Charles S. Spalding, Cheshire. 



58 



Leonard Smith, Mansfield. 

J. A. Spencer, wife and daughter, Wa- 

terbury. 
James F. Simpson and wife, Waterbury. 
J. E. Starnard, Springfield, Mass. 
H. B. Smith, New London. 
D. A. Spear, Hartford. 

F. Adelaide Sackett, Hartford. 
Chas. Smith, So. Norwalk. 

G. A. Spencer, E. Windsor. 
Hubert Teare, Bethel. 

Dr. Chas. Tomlinson. Hartford. 

D. Wallace Tracey, Hartford. 
W. L. Thomas, New Haven. 
Charles L. Upham, Meriden. 
Rev. Henry Upson, New Preston. 
Harrison Woodford and wife, Avon. 
F. W. White, Hartford. 

George Q. Whitney and wife, Hartford. 
A. S. Warner, Wethersfield. 
Frederick K. Waldo, So. Manchester. 

E. H. Williams, Hartford. 
Wallace Williams, Providence, R. L 
Jared Warner, Westville. 

J. B. Whalen, Hartford. 



A. A. Walker, Norwich. 
George R. Warner, Hartford. 
George R. Wilson, Thompsonville. 
Edward Ward, Falls Village. 
T. B. Williams, Meriden. 
John A. Waterman, Ivoryton. 
S. L. Williams, Ivoryton. 
T. T. Wilsdon, Bristol. 
Geo, S. Wilcox and wife, Yalesville. 
F. E. Weed, New Canaan. 
F. W. White, Hartford. 
John D. Worthington, Hartford. 
Rev. Walter J. Yates, New London. 
Hiram Buckingham. 
Eugene Hart, Hampton, Va. 
Charles Lyman, Washington, D. C. 
Henry P. Goddard, Baltimore, N. Y. 
George B. Rose. 
Robert H. Kellogg. 

Mrs. S. M. Spafford, Washington, D. C. 
Miss Spafford, Washington, D. C. 
F. B. Hawley, Bridgeport. 
Charles G. Blatchley and wife, Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 
H. S. Stevens, Washington, D. C. 



59 



fIDuetcrcb Qnt 

Some can never march again over the route with us. Every 
year will see some mustered out. Already, one prominently con- 
nected with the erection of the monuments, and present as a mem- 




HARLOW CHAPIN. 



ber of the General Committee of Arrangements at the dedication, 
has been ''honorably discharged " from earth's warfare. It is speci- 
ally fitting to mention the services and death of Harlow Chapin, 
Esq., of Monson, Mass., the efficient and beloved Secretary of the 
Eighth Regiment Association since its organization. By request we 



6o 

give place to his portrait and a brief life sketch, as having interest 
to many others, as well as the members of his own organization. 

Harlow Chapin was born in 1842 at Granby, Conn. He at- 
tended the public schools and academy. When the war broke out 
he was learning the carriage maker's business. At the firing on 
Sumpter, he, with nine others, formed a company of home guards. 
In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company C of the Eighth Connecti- 
cut Volunteers, being unable before then to obtain consent of his 
parents. He followed the fortunes of the regiment on the Burnside 
expedition to North Carolina, with Pope in the Army of the Poto- 
mac, and on the march in pursuit of Lee in his raid into Maryland. 
At the battle of Antietam fifty-five men answered the roll-call one 
morning, bnt only nine responded the next morning. The rest were 
dead, wounded or prisoners. Sickness, exposure brought to him 
a surgical operation and the hospital. Somewhat recovered, he re- 
ceived appointment as hospital steward, and served both at New 
Haven, Conn., and in the department of the South. He was mus- 
tered out in 1866. 

He was the second commander of Marcus Keep Post, G. A. R.; 
seven years quarter-master and two years aide-de-camp to the de- 
partment commandery. He was twenty-five years secretary of the 
regimental association, and was one of its representatives on the 
Monumental and Dedication Committee. A true Christian and 
brave soldier, he will be deeply missed. 

His death resulted from a difficulty consequent on the surgical 
operation performed during the war, developed now by an attack of 
the grippe. He died Sunday, November 4. 



6i 



Every member and friend of the old Fourteenth, ought to 

have a copy of 

Chaplain H. S. Stevens' 

Souvenir of their Excursion and Re- 
union at Antietam in 1891. 



.-. It gives much of the history of the regiment, and fills 120 
pages with a story of thrilling interest. It has 76 illustrations, 
and is finely bound in cloth. 

Send to him for a copy. 

102 Eighth St., - - N. E. Washington, D. C. 



Lecturers and Societies desiring the 
services of a competent operator and 
fine stereopticon, should correspond 
with . 

W. DUDLEY YATES, 

NEW LONDON, CONN. 

Reference, Rev. Walter J. Yates. 



Baltimore & Ohio R. R. 



Th 



^ hi 



Route of the Famous 



'sto 



^/c 



^^c/ 



''ROYAL BLUE LINE" 



» • • 

DIRECT ROUTE to 

GETTYSBURG, 
ANTIETAM, 
HARPERS FERRY, 
CEDAR CREEK, 
MANASSAS, 
Fredericksburg, 
Etc., etc. 



^y 
'^f. 



between New York 



AND 



TO THE 



^M^ Washington 

X 



Battlefields of ^ 

Pennsylvania, ^ 
Maryland, 
and the Virginias. 



Low Excursion Rates to these and other 
Points of Interest. 

operating the Finest , Safest and Fastest 
Trains in the World. 



For information address. A. J. SIMMONS, N. E. PASS. AGENT. 

F. W. HEROY, Trav. Pass. Agt., New York. 



^ I^eadin^ Railroad, s^ 



The ''i^oyal Route" 



BETWEEN 

NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, 

HARRISBURG, GETTYSBURG, 

READING, WILLIAMSPORT. 

. . . ALL POINTS IN . . . 

Eastern, Central and Southern Pennsylvania; the Anthracite 
and Bituminous Coal Fields. 



* 7 



^TZ^IS is a Direct and Picturesque Route from 
New England to Gettysburg. 



New England. Agen.cy, 

211 Washington Street, = = Boston. 

New York: Station, 

Foot of Liberty Street, = North River. 



J. A. SWEIGARD, C. G. HANCOCK, 

GEN. SUPT. GEN. PASS. AGENT, 



Illustrated 
Lectures 



ML. 




Battles • and • Battlefields 

Of Antietam and Gettysburg. 



At the urgent request of many veterans I have made a care- 
ful stud}' of the literature of the subject, have visited and photo- 
graphed many of the scenes, and secured other illustrations from 
the best artists, and have gathered much of information and 
incident on the battlefields with survivors of the contests, and 
have prepared a lecture on each of these battles, which I am pre- 
pared to give to G. A. R. Posts. 

The views are the finest to be had, and are shown with one 
of the most powerful stereopticons by a skilled operator. 

For Terms and dates, apply to 

WAIvTKR J. YATTKS, 

New London, Conn. 



J 



y 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 706 749 3 





